Mennonite
Central
Committee

Planning a Reunion

MCC alumni are encouraged to plan reunions. The Alumni Relations office can provide lists of names and addresses, and mailing labels, and also some ideas for getting started on planning a reunion. There is also some assistance with mailing costs.

When you plan activities please keep Alumni Relations informed so that information may be shared when there are questions.

Experience has shown that reunions of MCC alumni who served in a particular country or region are better attended than gatherings of MCC alumni who might have settled in a particular state or province.

In a few cases reunions have been held in the country or area of service. Planning needs a few more details here, but those have been very significant events.

 

Planning Process

1. Check with others who might want to be involved. Get a committee together.
2. Establish a proposed date for the reunion. Do some checking for other major conference gatherings, and also for other regional or local events that people might want to attend.

Make an estimate about possible attendance, could be a wild guess, work with the lists.

Find a meeting place, church-related camps, other camps, conference schools or colleges, or check with MCC offices for ideas and contacts. Consider pros and cons of city and rural options; it might be good if you could have lodging options, rooms, tenting, B & B and so on.

If deposits are a problem, contact Alumni Relations for interim financing.

Once you have established time and place, please inform Alumni Relations and also the nearest MCC Regional or Provincial office, to keep in touch and for extra publicity.

3. Get a mailing list and mailing labels from Alumni Relations. Be sure also to ask for names of alumni for whom there are no current addresses.

The first mailing, information, and invitation, including dates, meeting place, and approximate costs, should go out about 10 months before the intended reunion, but attendance can be good with just six months notice.

eg: perhaps for a gathering 'next summer', send the first mailing before Christmas. This might allow some family coordination of summer activities- -or, things could get lost in the Christmas shuffle; use your judgment.

If you send the first mailing more than a year in advance, be very clear about the year of the intended reunion, there have been some instances of confusion about the year of an event.

In the first mailing, include a list of the names for whom there is no current address, asking for any addresses or other information that folks may have. Invite a response, yes, no, maybe; ideas and so on.

Establish a deadline by when you want the registrations. Either for the meeting place or to help with planning, you may want to request a deposit; you may want full payment by a certain date, or you can wait for full payment at the reunion.

You may want an early 'head count' to help in making arrangements with your proposed location, what facilities will you need, or if numbers are quite different from early projections you may want to change the location. Usually if this is done soon enough, deposits can be refunded.

4. Begin to develop program ideas.
   1. Plan for worship, resource people for worship. Include something of worship from area of service.
   2. Invite someone from the area desk in Akron or Winnipeg; other resource people; mission boards? Include some reports from recently returned folks.
   3. Create activities, tours, for children and youth.
   4. Have sharing times: how assignments changed us; what to do now with what we experienced; treasured memories; spirituality & prayer while in service and now.
   5. Lots of free time, talent nights, lots of time for visiting.
   6. Logistics: who will coordinate and lead events; money; lodging; food; registration and so on.
5. A second mailing can be either confirmation to those who have responded, or you may want to do another mailing to the whole list, with more information or simply again to invite participation.

By the time of the second mailing you would include broad outlines of the 'program' or activities, more specific costs and other arrangements.

This mailing could go out 4 - 6 weeks before a registration deadline.

6. Enjoy the event! Before people leave, be sure to plan for next reunion: who will begin planning, for which year, ideas for location and so on.

Also at the event, be sure to have a current list of alumni to check on correct addresses, missing names, spellings and things like that.

Collect evaluation forms, ideas and suggestions for next time.

7. Treat yourselves. As a committee, go out for supper to discuss the event, go over the evaluation forms and wrap up for this time.